stapeln

Table of Contents

• Product Goal
• Current Status
• What is stapeln?
• Key Features
  • Four Visual Views
  • Security Features
  • Database & Documentation
  • Game-Like UX
• Tech Stack
• Architecture
  • The Elm Architecture (TEA)
  • Security Reasoning (miniKanren)
  • Ephemeral Pinholes (Elixir)
  • Multi-Modal Database (VeriSimDB)
• Quick Start
  • Prerequisites
  • Installation
  • First Run
• Usage
  • Page 1: Paragon View
  • Page 2: Cisco View
  • Page 3: Settings
• Security
  • Layers
  • Current Compliance
  • Post-Quantum Crypto (Roadmap)
• Accessibility
• Roadmap
  • Phase 1: Design (Complete) ✅
  • Phase 2: Frontend Implementation (45%) ⚠️
  • Phase 3: Backend & Security (20%) ⚠️
  • Phase 4: Post-Quantum Crypto (0%) ❌
• Documentation
• Contributing
• License
• Related Projects
• Credits
• Architecture

Visual Container Stack Designer for Verified Containers

Licensing: MPL-2.0 for code, CC-BY-SA-4.0 for documentation — see LICENSING.adoc. Badges wanted and pending restoration: docs/BADGES.adoc.

"Containers for People Who Hate Containers"

Product Goal

A 12-year-old who is reasonably IT-capable can help their parents build a secure container stack. That means no prior container knowledge is required, and security guidance is clear, visual, and actionable.

Current Status

Measured completion: ~48% (2026-08-07, commit bc04e22)

STATUS.adoc is the canonical source of truth — it records only claims backed by a file read, a command run, or a CI query, and it names the command so you can reproduce the number. DEBT.adoc indexes known debt across licence, documentation, code, proof, test, CI/CD and supply chain.

A per-component table used to live here. It drifted six months out of date and was wrong in both directions — understating the Idris2 proofs (called "stubs"; there are 8 genuine modules with zero escape hatches), miniKanren, VeriSimDB and authentication (all called "not started"; all substantial), while overstating compliance. Rather than maintain two tables that disagree, this one is gone. Highlights only:

• Works: 41 REST routes + Absinthe GraphQL; 10 UI tabs (TEA); full-fidelity design persistence and working security-scan / gap-analysis (both fixed in #17); 8 honest Idris2 ABI proofs; real Ed25519/SHA-256 in Zig; six code-generation emitters

• Missing: no mix test gate on GitHub; scripts/readiness-check.sh invoked by nothing; no persistent database (in-memory GenServer only); five uninitialised container-stack/ submodules

• Tests: 245 executable cases (122 ExUnit · 107 Deno · 16 Zig) + 8 Idris2 proof modules

This repo focuses on the stapeln app UI. The DOM-mounter workstream has been extracted to a separate repo: /var$REPOS_DIR/stapeln-dom-mounter.

What is stapeln?

stapeln (Swedish for "the stack") is a visual drag-and-drop designer for creating secure container stacks. It combines:

• 🎨 Game-like UI - Choose components like customizing a spaceship

• 🛡️ Built-in Security - Real-time attack surface analysis

• 🔍 Smart Validation - miniKanren reasoning engine catches vulnerabilities

• ♿ Accessibility First - WCAG 2.3 AAA compliance

• 🔥 OWASP Integration - ModSecurity firewall with ephemeral pinholes

• 📊 Multi-Modal Database - VeriSimDB (6 modalities)

• 📝 Attested Documentation - A2ML with cryptographic signatures

• ✅ Self-Validating Configs - K9-SVC Nickel contracts

"If you have to read the manual, we failed."

— UX Manifesto

Key Features

Four Visual Views

1. Paragon View (Vertical Stack)

   • Supply chain hierarchy from Cerro Torre → containers → provenance

   • Gap analysis sidebar shows security issues

   • Real-time validation

   • GParted-style vertical block layout

2. Cisco View (Network Topology)

   • Drag-and-drop components onto canvas

   • Draw connection lines between services

   • Simulation mode with animated packet flow

   • Configure ports visually (no CLI commands!)

   • Multiple shapes: box, oval, gateway, nested

3. Lago Grey Designer (Base Image Designer)

   • Visual minimal Linux distribution designer (Alpine/Chainguard alternative)

   • Interactive ice formation catalog (Floes < 1MB, Icebergs 1-75MB, Glaciers 75MB+)

   • Real-time size calculation and competitive comparison

   • Security stack indicators (post-quantum + classical crypto)

   • Base image selection (Distroless, Alpine, Scratch)

   • Export to .tar.gz with triple cryptographic signatures

   • 14.6 MB minimal image achieved (vs 60MB Alpine)

4. Settings

   • Defaults and preferences

   • Runtime selection (Podman/Docker/nerdctl)

   • Accessibility options

   • Smart defaults (hyperpolymath best practices)

Security Features

• Attack Surface Analyzer - Real-time security scoring (game-like stats!)

• miniKanren Engine - Deterministic vulnerability detection (no AI hallucinations!)

• OWASP ModSecurity CRS - Web application firewall (Paranoia Level 3)

• Ephemeral Pinholes - Temporary firewall openings with auto-expiry (30s to 24h)

• CVE Integration - Daily updates from NIST NVD

• Gap Analysis - Shows problems before deployment

• OWASP Top 10 Compliance - Built-in rule checking

• CIS Benchmarks - Industry standards

• Provenance Chains - Full audit trail (why something is flagged)

Database & Documentation

• VeriSimDB - Multi-modal storage (graph, vector, tensor, semantic, document, temporal)

• A2ML - Attested Markup Language for verified documentation (lax → checked → attested)

• K9-SVC - Self-validating component configurations (Kennel → Yard → Hunt security levels)

• Rekor Integration - Signature verification via transparency log

Game-Like UX

Like customizing a spaceship in a game:

• ✅ Real-time security score (Security: ████████░░░░ 67/100)

• ✅ Visual stat bars (Performance, Reliability, Compliance)

• ✅ Impact indicators (⬆️ Security +15 points)

• ✅ Color-coded risk levels (🔴 Critical, 🟠 High, 🟡 Medium, ✅ Safe)

• ✅ One-click auto-fix for vulnerabilities

• ✅ Simulation mode (test before deploying!)

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Frontend	affinescript-TEA (The Elm Architecture) + Deno
Backend	Elixir (Phoenix) + GraphQL (Absinthe)
Security Reasoning	miniKanren (Guile Scheme) + OWASP Rules
Database	VeriSimDB (6 modalities: graph, vector, tensor, semantic, document, temporal)
Documentation	A2ML (Attested Markup Language) with Idris2 backend
Config Validation	K9-SVC (Nickel contracts)
Validation	Idris2 proofs + Ephapax linear types
Firewall	firewalld/nftables + ephemeral pinholes
WAF	OWASP ModSecurity Core Rule Set v4.0
Auth	PAM (system user verification)
Signature Verification	Rekor transparency log

Architecture

The Elm Architecture (TEA)

All state transitions are pure functions:

type model = { /* app state */ }
type msg = AddComponent | DragMove | Deploy | Simulate | ...
let update: (model, msg) => (model, effect<msg>)
let view: model => React.element

Time-travel debugging. Fully testable. Predictable.

Security Reasoning (miniKanren)

Deterministic logic programming for security analysis:

(define (expose-ssh-to-interneto component)
  "Rule: SSH port 22 must not be exposed to internet"
  (fresh (port interface)
    (exposed-porto component port interface)
    (== port 22)
    (== interface 'public)))

;; Query violations
(run* (component)
  (expose-ssh-to-interneto component))
;; => (nginx-1 svalinn-1)  ; VIOLATIONS!

Why miniKanren, not an SLM?

• ✅ Deterministic (same input → same output)

• ✅ Explainable (full provenance chain)

• ✅ Instantly updateable (new CVEs added immediately)

• ✅ No hallucinations (can’t invent fake CVEs)

• ✅ Fast (milliseconds, not seconds)

• ✅ Small (< 10 MB, no GPU needed)

Ephemeral Pinholes (Elixir)

Temporary firewall openings with auto-expiry:

# Open port 8080 for 5 minutes
{:ok, pinhole_id} = EphemeralPinhole.open(8080, 300)

# Auto-closes after 300 seconds
# Audit logged to VeriSimDB
# Can manually close early
:ok = EphemeralPinhole.close(pinhole_id)

Multi-Modal Database (VeriSimDB)

# Store stack with multiple modalities
VeriSim.insert(%{
  uuid: "stack-abc123",
  modalities: [:graph, :semantic, :temporal],
  data: %{
    graph: {"stack:abc123", "stapeln:hasComponent", "comp:nginx"},
    semantic: "<http://example.org/stack/abc123> rdf:type stapeln:Stack",
    temporal: %{timestamp: DateTime.utc_now(), event: "created"}
  }
})

# Query with SPARQL
VeriSim.sparql_query("""
  SELECT ?component WHERE {
    ?stack stapeln:hasComponent ?component .
    ?component stapeln:exposesPort 22 .
  }
""")

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Deno 2.0+

• Guile Scheme 3.0+ (for miniKanren)

• Elixir 1.17+ / Erlang 27+

• firewalld or nftables

• Podman or Docker

• VeriSimDB (optional: federated or standalone)

Installation

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/hyperpolymath/stapeln.git
cd stapeln

# Frontend setup (Deno, no npm!)
cd frontend
deno install --allow-read --allow-write --allow-env --allow-run -n affinescript npm:affinescript@11
deno task build

# Backend setup (Elixir)
cd backend
mix deps.get
mix ecto.setup

# Security engine setup (miniKanren)
cd security-rules
guile -s setup.scm

# Firewall setup
sudo ./setup-firewall.sh

# Start all services
./dev.sh

First Run

1. Open browser: http://localhost:8000

2. Login with your system user credentials (PAM authentication)

3. Drag nginx from palette to canvas

4. Configure ports with visual toggles (no CLI!)

5. See real-time security scoring

6. Click [Simulate] to test with packet animation

7. Click [Deploy] when ready

Usage

Page 1: Paragon View

Vertical stack visualization:

┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓
┃ Cerro Torre (Build)      ┃  ✅ Active
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛
            ▼
┌──────────────────────────┐
│ Svalinn (Gateway)        │  ⚠️  Port 22 exposed
└──────────────────────────┘
            ▼
┌──────────────────────────┐
│ nginx (Web Server)       │  ✅ Healthy
└──────────────────────────┘
            ▼
┌──────────────────────────┐
│ postgres (Database)      │  ❌ No backup volume
└──────────────────────────┘
            ▼
╔══════════════════════════╗
║ Supply Chain             ║  ✅ Verified
╚══════════════════════════╝

Gap Analysis Sidebar: * ❌ CRITICAL: SSH port 22 exposed * ⚠️ HIGH: No backup volume * 💡 RECOMMENDATION: Add health checks

Page 2: Cisco View

Network topology with drag-and-drop:

     Internet ☁️
         │
         ▼
  ┏━━━━━━━━━━━┓
  ┃ Firewall  ┃ 🔥
  ┗━━━━━━━━━━━┛
         │
         ▼
  ┌───────────┐
  │  nginx    │ 🌐
  │  :80 🔓   │ ⚠️  Insecure!
  └───────────┘
         │
         ▼
  ┌───────────┐
  │ postgres  │ 🗄️
  │ :5432 🔒  │
  └───────────┘

Configuration Panel: * Port 80: ○ Closed ● Open ○ Ephemeral * Security Score: 🟡 67/100 * [Auto-Fix Issues] [Simulate] [Deploy]

Page 3: Settings

• Default Runtime: Podman / Docker / nerdctl

• Auto-verify Signatures: ✅

• Require SBOM: ✅

• Default CPU Limit: 1 core

• Theme: System / Light / Dark

Security

stapeln implements defense-in-depth:

Layers

1. OWASP ModSecurity CRS - WAF at gateway (Paranoia Level 3)

2. firewalld default-deny - Whitelist-only

3. miniKanren reasoning - Deterministic vulnerability detection

4. CVE daily sync - NIST NVD integration

5. Ephemeral pinholes - Temporary, auto-expiring firewall rules

6. PAM authentication - System user verification

7. Audit logging - VeriSimDB temporal modality

8. Signature verification - Rekor transparency log

9. SBOM enforcement - Supply chain verification

10. Gap analysis - Pre-deployment security checks

Current Compliance

Standard	Status	Score
OWASP Top 10 2021	🟡 Partial	6/10 (→ 10/10 by v1.0)
CIS Benchmarks	🟠 In Progress	12/20 (→ 20/20 by v1.0)
NIST Cybersecurity	🟠 In Progress	8/15 (→ 15/15 by v1.0)
WCAG 2.3 AAA	✅ Complete	100%
OpenSSF Scorecard	✅ Complete	100%
Post-Quantum Crypto	❌ Pending	0% (→ 100% by v1.0)

Target: 100% across all standards before 1.0 release

Post-Quantum Crypto (Roadmap)

Planned upgrades:

• Dilithium5-AES (ML-DSA-87) for signatures

• Kyber-1024 (ML-KEM-1024) for key exchange

• Ed448 + Dilithium5 hybrid mode

• SPHINCS+ as backup

• HTTP/3 + QUIC migration

• SHAKE3-512 hashing

Accessibility

stapeln is WCAG 2.3 AAA compliant:

• ✅ Full keyboard navigation (no mouse required)

• ✅ Screen reader optimized (NVDA, JAWS, Orca tested)

• ✅ Braille display annotations

• ✅ Semantic XML + ARIA labels

• ✅ 7:1 contrast ratio (21:1 for critical elements)

• ✅ Reduced motion support

• ✅ System-aware dark/light mode

• ✅ Captions and transcripts for media

Roadmap

See ROADMAP.adoc for detailed timeline.

Phase 1: Design (Complete) ✅

• ✅ affinescript-TEA architecture

• ✅ Three-page UI design

• ✅ Security specifications

• ✅ Database integration specs

• ✅ Game-like UI mockups

• ✅ miniKanren reasoning engine design

Phase 2: Frontend Implementation (45%) ⚠️

• ✅ Model, Msg, Update, View (affinescript)

• ✅ CiscoView, Settings pages

• ✅ LagoGreyImageDesigner component (921 lines)

• ✅ Interactive ice formation designer with real-time sizing

• ✅ Four-page navigation integrated

• ⚠️ Wire existing views to App.res (immediate)

• ⚠️ Import/export for designs and images (critical)

• ⚠️ Build pipeline (podman integration)

• ⚠️ Attack surface analyzer UI

• ⚠️ Port configuration panel

• ⚠️ Security inspector component

• ⚠️ Simulation mode with packet animation

• ⚠️ Gap analysis sidebar

• ⚠️ Auth flow (PAM login)

Phase 3: Backend & Security (20%) ⚠️

• ❌ miniKanren security engine

• ⚠️ Elixir Phoenix + GraphQL (MVP endpoints live, production hardening pending)

• ❌ Ephemeral pinhole GenServer

• ❌ VeriSimDB integration

• ❌ A2ML parser

• ❌ K9-SVC validator

• ❌ ModSecurity configuration

• ❌ firewalld rules

Phase 4: Post-Quantum Crypto (0%) ❌

• ❌ Dilithium5 signatures

• ❌ Kyber-1024 key exchange

• ❌ HTTP/3 + QUIC migration

• ❌ SPHINCS+ backup

• ❌ SHAKE3-512 hashing

Documentation

• UX Manifesto - Design philosophy

• Container-Hater Test - Ultimate UX challenge

• Security Audit - Current compliance (47% → 100%)

• Firewall Config - OWASP ModSecurity + ephemeral pinholes

• Security Engine - miniKanren vs SLM comparison

• Database Integration - VeriSimDB + A2ML + K9-SVC

• UI Mockups - Game-like interface designs

• Setup Guide - Deno-only installation

• .machine_readable/6a2/STATE.a2ml - Current project state

• .machine_readable/6a2/ECOSYSTEM.a2ml - Ecosystem position

• .machine_readable/6a2/META.a2ml - Architecture decisions (14 ADRs)

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md

Areas needing help:

1. miniKanren security rules (Scheme)

2. affinescript UI components

3. Elixir backend (Phoenix)

4. Accessibility testing

5. Documentation

6. Security auditing

License

PMPL-1.0-or-later (Palimpsest License)

Related Projects

• cerro-torre - Container builder

• lago-grey - Base image designer (Alpine/Chainguard alternative)

• svalinn - Edge gateway

• selur - IPC bridge

• vörðr - Container runtime

• verisimdb - Multi-modal database

• a2ml - Attested Markup Language

• k9-svc - Self-validating configs

• selur-compose - CLI orchestration

• verified-container-spec - Protocol specification

Credits

Created by hyperpolymath

Designed to convert container-haters into container-users. 🎯

Special thanks to the test user: A government cyberwar officer who loathes containerization. If he can use stapeln successfully, anyone can.

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Built with ❤️ and formal verification

Architecture

See TOPOLOGY.adoc for a visual architecture map and completion dashboard.